Survey: Workers Ill-Prepared for Retirement

April 11, 2007 -- Changes to traditional pension plans over the past five years have left U.S. employees feeling less confident with their retirement savings, a new national survey finds.

In telephone interviews with more than 1,200 workers aged 25 and older, 45 percent of respondents said they were less or much less confident about the amount of money they will receive from their employer-based pension plans, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a Washington-based, non-partisan research group.

Despite those concerns, two in five workers who experienced cutbacks in their retirement benefits have done nothing in response -- with as many as 70 percent of employees saving for retirement reporting less than $10,000 in assets, the survey found.

"We have known for decades that major changes were taking place in the U.S. retirement system," Jack VanDerhei, a Temple University researcher who co-wrote the survey, said in a statement. "This year, we found that a substantial number of workers realize that the shift from traditional pensions to 401(k) plans affects them personally."

VanDerhei said most employees now need additional savings to secure the same level of retirement funds they might have obtained under a traditional pension plan.

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